days at Hogwarts

Chapter 750: Blazing Sun
Wizards and witches who drink in the Leaky Cauldron often say that you will never see a Malfoy at a crime scene, even if the wand used to commit the crime is covered with their fingerprints.

Lucius Malfoy thought this statement was illogical. They would not leave behind any wands covered with fingerprints. If the Aurors handling the case were smart enough, they might be able to find Galleons covered with fingerprints on the murderer's body or home.

But what does that mean?

Most of the gold Galleons in England have flowed into the Malfoy family's vaults, and most officials in the Ministry of Magic hold Galleons with Malfoy's fingerprints on them.

Ever since the ancestor Armand Malfoy came to England, gained the trust of King William I, and used the land granted by the king to build the manor in Wiltshire, Malfoy's descendants have lived here for a full ten centuries, and Malfoy's wealth has always influenced the wizards in this land.

For a long time, the Malfoy family straddled Muggles and wizards. They sold the idea of ​​pure-blood supremacy to pure-blood wizards and showed the mystery of magic to Muggles. By influencing the powerful on both sides, they continuously absorbed wealth and power, constantly annexed the surrounding Muggle lands, expanded large-scale estates, and successfully got involved in Muggle currency and assets, becoming one of the richest wizard families in Britain. The hereditary title was within reach, and a Malfoy almost married Elizabeth I, although he failed in the end.

During the stage of soliciting opinions on the "Preliminary Draft of the Statute of Secrecy", the Malfoy family expressed strong opposition. After all, there were many half-bloods in their family tree, including a Squib, who had achieved brilliant achievements in Muggle society.

But in 1692, the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy was successfully passed, and they quickly severed all previous ties with the Muggle dignitaries and clearly advocated the concept of pure-blood supremacy.

Since then, the Malfoy family has begun to use their wealth to exert influence on the newly established British Ministry of Magic from behind. The Malfoy family has no interest in the position of minister, they prefer to play the role of real power behind the throne, which allows them not to pay the price for wrong decisions.

Although no Malfoy has ever served as a minister, the Malfoy family is deeply involved in almost every ministerial election, funding candidates close to the Malfoys, spending money to suppress opponents, and spreading rumors to discredit other candidates. These are just the most common means.

The influence of the Malfoy family has been revealed several times before.

The earliest one can be traced back to the predecessor of the Ministry of Magic, the Wizards Council. In the 14th century, Nicholas Malfoy used the plague as an excuse to kill many Muggle tenants who angered him, and successfully escaped the trial of the Wizards Council.
More recently, in the late 18th century, Septimus Malfoy exerted his family's influence to the extreme. He successfully manipulated the ministerial election and promulgated many policies in line with the family's interests through the Ministry of Magic, so that many wizards believed that the then Minister Ankhesus Osbert was just a puppet of Malfoy.
The most recent one was thirty years ago, when Abraxas Malfoy, Lucius Malfoy's father, was suspected of being involved in the plot to murder the then Minister, Nobby Leach, which led to the first Muggle-born Minister leaving the office due to illness.

Lucius once experienced the most glorious era of the Malfoy family. Even the so-called Minister of Magic was just a tool they manipulated. He followed his father's teachings and entered Hogwarts with the belief of expanding his family's wealth and power. He successfully joined Slytherin and became a core figure of the Death Eaters soon after graduation.

From the late 70s to the early 80s, he used his family's wealth and connections to help Voldemort, and at the same time used Voldemort's growing power to earn more wealth. In the summer of 1980, he also welcomed his own child...

Everything went smoothly as if it was a dream, a dream that came from drinking the Felicis Felix. Lucius believed that he would be on par with or even surpass the Malfoy ancestors in the family tree, making the younger generations proud of the Malfoy name.

Just one year later, the dream was shattered.

With the unexpected downfall of Voldemort, the situation in the wizarding world changed dramatically. Lucius had to face the investigation and liquidation of the Ministry of Magic. He quickly exerted the influence of the Malfoy family and took the initiative to clear the matter up under the pretext of the Imperius Curse, thus avoiding charges and prison life.

The bet on Voldemort failed, and the family wealth was lost by buying connections to escape trial. What's worse, Dumbledore set his sights on the Malfoy family, and Lucius could no longer manipulate the ministerial election. The high-ranking officials who came to power at that time were all factions that hated the Death Eaters. They were unwilling to make a deal with the Malfoy family, so Lucius had to hide and gradually fade out of the power center.

Until Voldemort was resurrected and the nightmare began.

"..."

The apron was gleaming with magic lights, and green flames were burning quietly on the water. Whether it was the tenacious moss growing in the cracks of the ground or the water ants flying in the rain, they would die immediately if they were slightly touched by the flames. However, for an adult wizard, those randomly scattered spells or the ominous flames spreading everywhere were not aimed at him.

Lucius, who lived a life of luxury, had average practical performance in school. Although he joined the Death Eaters after graduation, he almost never fought anyone head-on and was totally unskilled in magic duels. Only after Voldemort's downfall did he think about improving his strength and stockpiled a number of cursed items and books on dark magic. He didn't learn anything when he was young and energetic, and he was no longer physically and mentally fit when he reached middle age. After more than ten years of procrastination, he still learned nothing.

A few years ago, the Ministry of Magic conducted a crackdown and the collection was sold to Borgin and Burke.

Although he was good at assessing situations and planning conspiracies, he was not as good as a trainee Auror in a head-on duel with the wielding of a wand. Lucius suspected that the Malfoy family did not have this talent. A melee between the two sides was about to break out, and the other Death Eaters were rushing forward. He immediately moved away from the central battlefield, avoided everyone's sight, and quietly went around to the exit of the terminal.

Rookwood had the same idea. After fighting with Scrimgeour for several minutes, the battlefield where he was was filled with mist and the ghost fire interfered with his vision. The minister, who was slightly lame, quickly lost his target and became entangled in a fight with other Death Eaters.

Lucius was afraid of encountering Aurors, so he groped forward fearfully. The facilities at the Muggle airport were very complete, and there were road maps at almost every corner, with arrows pointing to the exits, which were simple and clear. Rookwood was even faster, nimbly passing through the corridors and bypassing the marble columns...

A few minutes later, the two Death Eaters met at the corner of the corridor. Meeting was fate. They were both smart people. The exit had appeared in their sight. If they escaped, they could get rid of Voldemort and the Aurors...

Rookwood said nothing, and Lucius silently looked away, and the two of them gripped their wands tightly and trotted towards the exit.

Just as the two of them were gradually speeding up, they heard a clear female voice:

“[The slide is average]”

"[Shapeshifting Slate]"

Two spells were cast in succession, and the two Death Eaters had no time to react. The corridor under their feet suddenly turned into a smooth slope. The two were moving too fast to stop, and were immediately pushed over by inertia. They rolled twice on the ground and hit the stone slab that was turned into the glass door opposite. Their limbs were spread out, their heads tilted, and their eyes closed.

Lucius heard footsteps around him, about the number of people in a team of Aurors, so he gave up struggling completely and began to think about how he could get away with the crime if he was tried in the Magical Congress of the United States of America... Lucius' thoughts were interrupted, and the next voice sounded familiar.

Loren and Hermione looked down at the Death Eater lying on the ground. Perhaps because of long-term intermarriage in the pure-blood circle, the Malfoy family's genes were relatively simple and their facial features were too obvious, especially the platinum hair. Their facial features were also somewhat similar.

The Auror team of the Magical Congress of the United States of America confiscated the wands of the two men and were about to tie them up and detain them. Loren raised his hand to stop them: "There is no need to detain this man. He is one of us."

Pickley hesitated slightly, tilted his head and thought about it, and suddenly felt that many things made sense. He signaled others to take Rookwood away, and the spy lurking among the Death Eaters should stay here.

"No wonder you were able to get hold of intelligence on the Death Eaters, no wonder you were able to set up an ambush plan, as well as the whereabouts of their strongholds and so on. I thought it was only old Crabbe. You British wizards are really..." There might be some misunderstanding here, but it's not convenient to explain.

Loren was silent for a moment, then said calmly, "This was all Dumbledore's plan."

Hearing this, Pickley and Nancy were stunned for a moment and had a new understanding of the amiable principal of the friendly school.

Hermione glanced at him secretly. This brave witch had just knocked down two Death Eaters with two spells, and now her look was a little complicated.

The sound of breaking glass came from the direction of the tarmac, and the sound of fierce fighting over there suddenly became much clearer. From time to time, the witches' screams could be heard, and Moody's voice could be heard to be alert. The floor underfoot was shaking slightly.

"Harry is at a disadvantage."

Pickley came back to his senses and turned to look at Loren: "We received the message not to interfere with your fight, but what about you and Headmaster Dumbledore, why haven't you taken action yet?"

Loren turned his gaze toward the center of the battlefield and said softly, "We are waiting for the opportunity."

"What time?"

"The timing of Harry's death."

……

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The green flames that were scattered everywhere gradually dimmed, which was a sign that the caster was concentrating on fighting the enemy and had no time to pay attention to other things. The center of the tarmac was shining with brilliant light, and the fierce spell light illuminated Harry and Voldemort.

The two men cast long shadows behind each other. They both had cold faces and their eyes were firm and stern.

Harry looked directly into those scarlet eyes, then looked at the intersection of the red and green lights. The picture was undoubtedly beautiful, like the gorgeous aurora on TV, the night in the drizzling rain, the brilliant magic spell of his enemy, and even Voldemort opposite him seemed more pleasing to the eye, with pale skin, an ordinary wand, and the gradually approaching Killing Curse. All the pictures showed that death was about to come.

He thought his heart would be resolute and calm, but with death right in front of him, Harry was inevitably a little nervous. The raindrops falling on his body were getting colder and colder, the life-threatening green light was getting more and more dazzling, and his fear was getting stronger and stronger. Fortunately, he only started to panic at this time and did not do anything shameful.

As Harry was thinking this, he saw the mouth opposite him grinning coldly.

In a flash of green light, everything disappeared.

"Harry!"

Sirius shouted out subconsciously. Although he had learned the news in the cabin and was prepared, he still shed tears silently when he saw Harry's figure slowly falling. More than ten years had passed, and he still could not calmly accept death, even if it was a false death.

Voldemort was immersed in joy and happiness. He removed the magic from his body and let the raindrops wash over him. The cool touch was comfortable. He lowered his head and looked at Harry's body not far away, and read softly:
"One must die at the hand of the other, for both cannot live in the world, but only one..."

Suddenly, he stopped, a strange palpitation enveloped his heart, his pores stood up, and his skin wrinkled like snake scales.

Voldemort turned and paced, looking around in inexplicable panic. He saw wizards constantly retreating, no matter they were the Death Eater servants, the disgusting Aurors, or the bug-like Order of the Phoenix. Several Aurors were a little flustered because they were dragging the unconscious Death Eaters and their steps were lagging behind. The lame Scrimgeour and the lame Mad-Eye Moody supported each other and moved away.

What are they afraid of, what are they avoiding?
The moment he looked away, flames suddenly rose from the flat ground not far away, and disappeared in a flash. Along with the flames, Harry's body also disappeared.

While he was in a trance, the drizzle seemed to stop, the cool raindrops disappeared, and the vision around him became brighter. Voldemort seemed not to notice this. He vaguely remembered this kind of palpitations, which was somewhat familiar. He had experienced it before, just four months ago on Easter.

The Dark Lord who killed his old enemy suddenly opened his eyes wide, his pupils suddenly contracted, and he revealed a look of horror.

The entire sky was covered by the blazing fire, as if the sun was shining brightly at noon in midsummer. The drizzle did not stop, but was evaporated by the high temperature before it fell. A rainbow halo hung on the edge of the blazing sun, and dark blue holes were burned into the field of vision.

The temperature of the entire area continued to rise, the rainwater flowing on the ground quickly dried up, and even the fog disappeared.

All the wizards retreated in horror. It was no longer possible to stand under the scorching sun. The asphalt on the tarmac had melted and gradually spread out to cover the entire area. The shattered glass in the terminal melted into a magma-like liquid, as if the scene of hell was spreading out on earth.

Voldemort's robes had been evaporated, and the high temperature caused the air convection to cause a whistling wind. The robes rustled and seemed to be on fire. The magic power in Voldemort's body continued to flow out, isolating himself from the high temperature, like fallen wheat seedlings resisting some kind of great power of heaven and earth.

"I have killed my old enemy, and I will never... be defeated by the same spell!"

A crazy smile appeared on Voldemort's face. Without thinking about how to Apparate, he raised his wand and pointed the tip of the wand at the scorching sun in the sky, or at Loren.

Just as the spells from both sides were about to be released, Voldemort vaguely heard a rough and familiar voice coming from behind him, and he caught a glimpse of the person out of the corner of his eye.

A burly figure, his skin cracked by the heat, blood mixed with grease flowing, faintly showing signs of being ignited, rushed over like a bear, it was his humble servant——

Old Crabbe.

(End of this chapter)